Fourth-grader Allison Shreve students works on complex sentences during class at Hillside Elementary School in San Bernardino, CA, Wednesday, August 24, 2016. (Staff photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher/The Sun/SCNG)

Statewide, 49 percent of students met or exceeded English standards, a 5 percentage point improvement from last year, results released Wednesday show. In math, 37 percent hit those marks, a 4 percentage point gain.

During that same period, San Bernardino County students’ scores rose from 37 percent to 41 percent in English and climbed from 25 percent to 28 percent in math.

“We’re very encouraged to see improvement at all grade levels and growth among many student subgroups,” said Christine McGrew, spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools. “We’re heading in a positive direction.”

For the past two years, California’s public school students have been taking the new tests, known nationally as the Smarter Balanced tests, which are aligned to the Common Core State Standards. The new, more rigorous tests are taken on computers, feature questions in random order to prevent students copying off one another, ask follow-up questions based on previous answers and avoid multiple choice questions in favor of interactive problems and essays.

In the Fontana Unified School District, 33 percent of students met or exceeded the English Language Arts standard this year, up 5 percentage points over last year. But only 19 percent met or exceeded the math standard, up 2 percentage points over the year before.

“We are definitely making progress … but we do understand that we have work to do,” Joshua Lightle, Fontana Unified’s Interim Associate Superintendent of Teaching and Learning said Wednesday. “Our parents and community really expect the district to foster academic growth and achievement and we share that sentiment.”

In Redlands Unified, 59 percent of Redlands students who were tested met or exceeded standards in English Language Arts, up 6 percentage points over last year’s results. In math, 44 percent of students met or exceeded standards, which is up 4 percentage points over last year.

Miki Inbody, Redlands Unified’s assistant superintendent of educational services, credited the more than 40 hours of annual professional learning teachers have undergone for much of the progress, along with district-level assessments given throughout the school year to monitor student progress. She said there’s more to be done, especially with math scores.

In Rialto Unified, 31 percent of students met or exceeded the English Language Arts standard, an improvement of 2 percentage points over last year. And 18 percent of Rialto students met or exceeded the math standard, up 1 percentage point over the year before.

In San Bernardino City Unified, 34 percent of students met or exceeded the English Language Arts standard, up 6 percentage points over the year before. In math, 21 percent of students met or exceeded the standard, up 4 percentage points over last year.

“We’re very pleased with the growth we’ve had,” San Bernardino City Unified Superintendent Dale Marsden said Wednesday, noting the district’s growth outpaced comparable districts such as Fontana, Rialto and Moreno Valley.

“We still have a long way to go — it’s a very rigorous standard — but our team is up to it,” Marsden said. “We’re excited about where we are, but we’re still not satisfied.”

Statewide, more than 3.2 million third- through eighth-graders took the online tests, which are based on the more rigorous Common Core academic standards that stress critical thinking, problem solving and preparing students for the real world.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said in a news release that the scores show educators and parents are “making progress towards upgrading our education system to prepare all students for careers and college in the 21st century.”

Noting “there’s more work to do,” he urged business, political and community leaders to “continue supporting increased standards and resources for schools.”

He attributed the higher scores to several factors, including an extra year teaching the standards, more familiarity with the online test and improved technology.

A continuing concern is the lower scores of students from low-income families, English learners and black and Latino students, Torlakson said.

Thirty-seven percent of Latinos and 31 percent of blacks met or exceeded English standards, compared with 64 percent of white students.

Torlakson has proposed an office in the California Department of Education to focus on narrowing this achievement gap.

Staff writer Sandra Emerson contributed to this story.

HOW DID YOUR SCHOOL DO?

Individual student scores are mailed to parents, but you can go online to see how your student’s school or district performed.

Beau Yarbrough wrote his first newspaper article taking on an authority figure (his middle school principal) when he was in 7th grade. He’s been a professional journalist since 1992, working in Virginia, Egypt and California. In that time, he’s covered community news, features, politics, local government, education, the comic book industry and more. He’s covered the war in Bosnia, interviewed presidential candidates, written theatrical reviews, attended a seance, ridden in a blimp and interviewed both Batman and Wonder Woman (Adam West and Lynda Carter). He also cooks a mean pot of chili.

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